With a hand full of racing games now available for the
Xbox 360, it's no surprise that gamers are ready for their first taste
of racing in style. Racing wheels have been around for quite sometime on
the PC. More recently as consoles have become more PC like, racing
wheels have made there way into the living room. Logitech has raced it's
way to the new generation of consoles with their Logitech DriveFX Racing
Wheel for the Xbox 360. They are one of the first to bring the
"simulation" to racing in this next generation of off-road, racing and
simulation game titles.

Package Contents:

1 Logitech DriveFX Racing Wheel for Xbox 360

1 Gas/Brake Pedal Set

1 USB Cable

1 Connected Serial Cable

1 Power Cable

System Requirements:

Xbox 360 Premium

Xbox 360 Core

Features:

Axial Feedback: Logitech's feedback technology
features powerful motors built into the base of the steer column.
These motors distribute the vibration throughout the entire wheel,
shifters and casing, creating a sensory experience similar to that
of a real car steering wheel and column.

Latest Industrial Design Innovation: Gas-assisted
injection molding process was used during manufacturing, allowing
the wheel to be created in a single, durable piece - without any
seams.

10" Diameter molded wheel with rubber grips for
comfortable driving

Includes Xbox 360 connector and standard Xbox 360
buttons

Responsive gas and brake pedals

setup

Unpacking the racing wheel from the box
was much more simple than thrashing apart Logitech's Harmony Remote
(which I covered in a previous review). Typical packaging, with plastic
bags covering the goods. In addition to the wheel and brake/gas pedal, I
found separate packaging for the power supply and USB cable.

Setting up the wheel was very simple,
albeit excessive on the wires. The pedals require you to connect to the
racing wheel console via the connected serial cord (aka PC connection).
Following that, you then attach the included USB cable to the Xbox 360
(you can use the front or back USB ports) and back to the wheel console.
Finally, open up another socket on your wall for the included power
supply. You need to plug this into the wall, as well as to the console.
This powers the Axial Feedback motors in the wheel console.

the Drivefx Racing wheel

Be prepared to make accommodations for
the racing wheel placement when using it with your Xbox 360 in your
living room. In order to complete my setup, I needed to setup one of our
TV Trays in order to mount this new racing accessory. The 10 foot
experience here is literally just that. You pretty much have to be
within 10 feet of the TV (or closer if you are hindered by the length of
the power cable included). The racing console is not lap friendly,
meaning you are required to attach this wheel to something that is solid
or fixed. TV Trays, coffee tables, computer desk, or maybe even a
breakfast bar if it's close enough to your main console TV.

This is one of my biggest concerns with
the new wheel from Logitech. While we are starting to see more and more
racing wheels that are lap friendly (meaning they are developed to
actually rest the steering wheel in your lap), Logitech releases a brand
new wheel without such support. This is very important for the sole
purpose of living room use. The majority of Xbox 360 consoles will be in
the living room or family room, with limited opportunity to fix the
wheel to a desk. On a good note, the wheel worked perfectly fine mounted
to the TV Tray, with the pedals resting underneath the tray.

After getting the new wheel setup and
mounted, I turned on the Xbox 360. Because of the PC like connectivity,
I was thinking that upon boot of the Xbox 360 dashboard that I will get
some form of message that the system has detected my newly attached
hardware. No such thing with the Xbox 360. It recognized the wheel as a
standard controller, flashing the same blinking Xbox Guide button light
(1) just like the Microsoft Wireless Controllers.

The steering wheel holds all the
traditional Xbox 360 buttons, including the Xbox Guide button. There are
F1 style paddle/shifter buttons located at finger tip reach located on
the back side of the wheel. The wheel itself is an excellent design, and
has a top quality feel. The rubber grips are perfectly located in the 10
and 2 positions, and when held in that position, it feels like you are
holding onto an F1 steering wheel. The paddle shifters make round it out
nicely. The A,X,Y and B buttons are all properly colored (and painted)
and have a solid feel, with perfect sensitivity.

On the back of the wheel you will find
placement for your Microsoft Xbox Live Headset. The female connection is
the same proprietary connection you will find on your Xbox 360
controller. This makes the puck placement very natural. Pedal
feel, although sounding a bit on the cheap side when depressing, have a
very solid feel, and retract smoothly.

gameplay

After popping in Project Gotham Racing 3,
I entered the controller setup screen. When choosing a controller
layout, PGR3 will provide you with a "wheel" configuration as one of the
many options. I chose the wheel setup and backed out of the menu. After
finding a match with closely matched Tru-Skill competitors, I was off to
my first race in full racing wheel fashion. After 3 laps had gone by, I
was still on my first lap hitting every car and wall. It was the OTHER
racers who actually finished the 3 laps. Wow. I was ready to rip the
wheel right out of the Xbox 360 console and go back to my wireless
controller. Racing with a simulation wheel is much different than using
a standard controller. I didn't let frustration get the best of me. I
proceeded into the next race, and decided to compensate for what I
believed to be a sensitivity issue with the wheel. Again, the raced
ended with some frustration. Upon closer look, I found a black button on
the steering wheel that wasn't labeled. Pressing this button made the
green lights surrounding the center cap flash. Possibly a reset button?

I started up the 3rd race. The first
corner came, and I made it. The remainder of the race I was able to stay
on the track and finish. Logitech built in a sensitivity feature.
Pressing this non-labeled button changed the sensitivity of the racing
wheel. While it will still take some getting used to, I found that this
change made using the wheel much more satisfying and enjoyable. The
paddle shifters helped me move from being the traditional Automatic
driver to a Manual driver. Doing such will improve your track times by
making use of engine braking into corners, and pushing the redline out
of corners.

The brake/gas peddle feedback was
excellent. Instant response when accelerating and braking. The only
downfall was minimal movement of the pedal base on the carpet when
really slamming on the brakes. That would be more of a personal self
control issue than anything. The "Axial" Feedback was very impressive.
The wheel is able to determine which type of feedback to give, and when.
The wheel would provide back shifting feedback at the same time it
provides feedback that your tires are riding along the edge of the
track. All of this at the same time, and a personalized feel for each
type of feedback. One could determine what has happened with their eye's
closed.

There were a couple issues that I found
somewhat troubling during my testing however. The headset, when
connected to the DriveFX Racing Wheel caused echoing in the lobby and
during races. I decided to swap out the wheel for the standard
controller to see if I could replicate the echo. The echo was not
present when using the Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Controller. Upon
reconnection of the DriveFX wheel, the echo returned. This may or may
not be directly related to getting an early release of the new steering
wheel, and might be addressed by the time this review was just posted.

Secondly, the steering radius. While not
really an issue or a "bug", it's more of a preference. I am finding that
the racers want the 900 degree (2½ turns) turning radius, just like the
everyday car. I was also hoping to find the standard practice to be 900
degrees with then generation console wheels. What you will find is that
you are limited to 90 degrees to the left, and 90 degrees to the right.
This requires you to adjust to compensate from your everyday driving
technique (if you were hoping for 100% simulation that is).

Let me preface by saying that this was my first
experience with a racing wheel for a console. The experience overall was
a good experience. Some consumers may be turned off by the number of
wires (power, serial, usb), while others might find the steering to
limited. But for the price, the DriveFX Racing wheel seems to hit almost
everything a gamer needs in a racing accessory. It's well built, has a
solid feel, and looks really cool with the chrome accented center cap,
along with the rubber lined grips. With the Microsoft Wireless Racing
Wheel for Xbox 360 set to come out this holiday season at a rumored
$130.00 price tag, this is probably the better choice for the budget
minded consumer.